Do You Want to Try Your Hand at Pigeon Keeping

THOUGHTS - Raising and keeping pigeons is a relatively inexpensive and fun hobby. The most significant issue with keeping pigeons is knowing that before acquiring the birds, that your neighbors, community and town will allow you to keep them. Pigeon keeping is addictive because the more you raise, the more you want. That is how a back yard of eyesores (pigeon houses) begins. It’s always good to know what you want and your plan to maintain them. Understand that pigeons come in all shapes and sizes and thus have different exercise needs. A pair of non-flying birds might do well in a 4 ft square open air box. But, a smaller flying breed might need the countryside to exercise, thus creating a daily release program. Maintaining a place for a pair of pigeons just takes a little common sense; space to flap their wings, eat, drink, walk and nest.

BREEDS and KEEPING – Start with the breed you like. Make sure that if your starting small there are not a lot of extra requirements, such as having a short face breed that can’t feed their own or require special feeding. Pigeons eat about 1-2 ounces of quality mixed grain a day but this is tripled if their feeding young. Fresh grit should always be available, whether white oyster shell or the popular red grit. Fresh water daily is required. If given the chance, birds will attempt to bath in their drinking water, so it’s important to use a container they cannot soil. Some breeds are a little more aggressive than others. Some are more active and even will escape and fly away if given the chance. When a boy pigeon (cock) and girl pigeon (hen) are at least 6 months old , they will begin to mate. Given a nesting bowl of straw or similar material, the hen will lay 2 eggs (a day apart). Mom & dad will take turns sitting on the eggs about 17 days until they hatch. Mom normally sits 5PM to 10AM next morning and dad takes the remaining shift. Both parents feed the youngsters, but after about 3 weeks of growth, the cycle of laying eggs starts again, and dad does most the feeding of the older children. As the babies reach a month, they’re eating on their own. Releasing birds for exercise is often a trial and error program that sometimes causes birds not to return. A good rule of thumb for releasing old birds is to wait until you’ve had them a year and they’ve raise 2 nests of youngsters. Young birds know no other home and thus can be released in a few months after birth. Never force birds out on their first few flights. They must get to know their surroundings on their own.

SICKNESS and DISEASE – Pigeons if given the opportunity would bath every day because they are extremely clean animals. If you keep their home clean, fresh water and good food, you’ll never have a problem. They like fresh air but not cold drafts. They can acclimate to cold conditions but dampness and drafts will cause problems. Like all animals, pigeons contract colds and disease but the above ingredients’ will prevent any such problem from occurring. Pigeons don’t often catch normal fowl diseases or the avian flu. A last mention for keeping sickness out of the loft is cleanliness. Scraping out the poop once a week and adding an absorbent material, will keep things, clean, dry, and easy to maintain. Many people use about ½ inch of crushed corn cob as a bedding.

SUPPORT – It is always more fun raising pigeons when you know someone else that raises them and sharing stories. Besides, if you work with an older breeder you can get your questions answered and learn more about the breed. Learning more about pigeons and doves is the reason the Virginia Pigeon and Dove Association (VPDA) has been around since 1941. If you are interested in joining the VPDA, contact Joe Olszyk at 443-243-8321, email olszykjw@comcast.net or send your questions to Joe at 225 Comstock Drive, Colonial Heights, VA 23834.